Fourier Charles Fourier (1772-1837) was a french socialist whose vision of utopia derived from a mixture of mysticism, numerology,

and a crude psychological theory. Modern society, he said, is not so far from barbarism as its inhabitants are inclined to believes. Its afflicted with the evils of commerce , selfishness and deception, among many others (i44 of them,to be exact). We not only deceive others,we also deceive ourselves by holding false or mistaken beliefs especially the belief that wealth will bring happiness. The evils of commercial society, with its mad pursuit of wealth, are embodied in its institutions. Fouriers visions of a harmonious society was captured in his account of the phalanstery, a community of about sixteen hundred- 1610 is the deal populations, he said- in which the residents would produce all they needed and all the passions would be fully satisfied. Owen Robert Owen (1771-1858) was a british capitalist who, appalled by thr effects of early capitalism, became an ardent socialist. Drunkenness, debauchery, theft, and other evils were, he held, the result not of original sin or of individual character defects, but of a deformed social system. By rewarding the greed and selfishness of the capitalist, the capitalist system sent the wrong message to young people. In 1800 in new lanark, Scotland, Owen established a model textile factory that was radical by the standard of the day. These and other practices Owen described and defended in A New view Of Sociaty (1814). He also applead to workers to share his vision of a network of small, self-sufficient communities that would spread arround the globe. Many others thinkers also dreamed dreams and fashioned schemes for a socialist society. Important though these proponents of utopian socialism were, however, none of their efforts proved to be as long-live and influential as those of Karl Marx. THE SOCIALISM OF KARL MARX The Young Marx Karl Marx was born in Trier, In german Rhineland, in 1818, the son of a law who had abandoned the jewish faith and converted to cristianity because the goverment had decreed that jews could no longer practice law. Karl marx went on to earn his doctorate in philosophy in 1841,

expecting to take up an academic post. But, being apolitical liberal of jewish descent in a conservative and anti semitic society, Marxs academic aspirations went unfulfilled. Marxs early career as a muckraking journalist brought above two important changes in his outlook. First, he came to appreciate the central social and political importance of economic mattersof property owernship, of marker forces, of the states systematically favoring the rich over the poor. Second, he ceased to be a liberal and became a radical who believed that the political and economical system of his day was so rotten that it could not be reformed from within. Joking that the german authorities had given me back my freedom, Marx returned to his philosophical pursuits, plunging into a serious and systematic study of the philosphy of G.W.F. Hegel (1770-1831). The Influence of Hegel Hegels Philosophy of history proved to be particularly influential. Human history, Hegel maintained, moves in a particular direction and according to a pattern that can be discerne, at least in hindsight. There is nothing necessarily mystical or spiritual about spirit any more than there is in our expressions the human spirit. Spirit, one might say, is a set of potentials waiting to be actualized or developed. The most important of these potentials is the capacity for freedom. At this point another key concept in hegels philosphy- estrangement or alienation, comes into play. Spirit evolves into its higher and more inclusive form throught a succession of separations or alienations. Spirit undertakes a journey, in other words, that resembles the spiritual or psychological development of individual human beings. The various stages through which spirit passes reveal what Hegel Called the cunning of reason and the operationof the dialectic. Individual human being, even whole nations, are carracters in a vast unfolding drama whose plot- the progress of spirit and the growth of freedom- is unknown to them. Each plays his or her part, unaware of howthat part fits into the grater whole. To show how this dialectical process works to promote human freedom, Hegel invites us to imagine the kind of conflict that might develop between a master and slave, or what he terms the master-slave dialectic. According to Hegel Account, the master becomes master by physically conquering another, whom he then enslaves. At first the slave is grateful for having his life spared, and fearful that the master might yet take it from him. The Master, likewise sees himself through the slaves eyes as superior, ennobled and independent. The slave, in other words, wants the master recognize and acknowledge his humanity, which would in turn require the master to treat the slave as an equal, thai is, to free him. Yet the master cannot free the slave without ceasing to be who he is , socially speking- namely, a master.

The Master at first appears to have the upper hand. He has all the power. He hold the key. He has a monopoly on the means of coercionsthe chains, the whips and other instruments of tortune. And yet, when the slave refuses to recognize the masters moral or social superiority, he gains the upper hand. He withholds from the master the one thing that the master wants but cannot compel. From the moment of the slaves refusal, their positions are effectively reversed. Hegel tells this story to show how the dialectic operates so as to allow the idea of freedom to burst throught the confines of a seemingly invulnerable institutions. Althought marx changes the characters and modifies the story, the essential dialectical logic of Hegels tale remains unchanged. Marxs Theory of Story After his dead, Hegels followers split into two main camp. On one side were the conservative Rightt Hegelians, who interpreted Hegels philoshopy of history in theological terms. Like hegel, marx saw history as the story of human labor and struggle. But history, for marx, is the story not of the struggle of disembodied spirit, but of the human species struggles in and against a hostile world. To undestand marxs position here, we need to examine what he meant by claass, how be thought different classes come into being and into conflict, and how he expected a classless communist society to arise. Marx called his interpretation of history materialist to distinguist it from Hegels idealist interpretation. Where Hegel had seen history as the story of spirits self-realization, marx saw history as the story of class struggles over opposing materia, or economic, interest and resources.